Nepal records a 32% rise in foreign tourist inflow

Published on : Friday, December 9, 2016

The tourism industry of Nepal was impacted adversely following the fatal earthquake that struck this region in the year 2015.

However, the tourism sector of this country has started witnessing signs of recovery since the number of travellers visiting Nepal has risen by about 32% in the first 11 months of 2016 as compared to the same period in the last year.

The data released by the Department of Immigration (DoI), says that about 6,55,144 foreigners had visited Nepal till November in 2016. On account of the earthquake that devastated the nation, alongside the blockades at the border points of Nepal and India, the number of foreign visitors to the country was restricted to a meager 4,93503 in the same period in the previous year.

It is certain that the tourism industry of Nepal has started to observe a revival.

This is clearly indicated by the fact that the tourist arrivals for the period between January and November has exceeded the tourist figures of 2014. During that point of time, about 5,85,981 foreign tourists had visited Nepal via air routes.

Deepak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said that the tourism industry of the nation is steadily getting revived due to the coordinated efforts of the private sector, the government and other stakeholders in order to promote Nepal in the international market.

Joshi said that the arrival of tourists increased by 14% in the initial six months of 2016. It has been a spectator to higher growth in the second half of the year.

He said that attempts of non-resident Nepalis to promote their country as an interesting tourism locale as well as lucrative tourism packages launched by tour operators have triggered the growth in tourist arrivals.

The data of DoI says that UK, Sri Lanka, USA, China and India topped the chart of tourist inflow in the first 11 months of 2016.

Also, this data declares that the number of Indian tourists visiting Nepal has reached about 1,05,047 in the period between January and November this year. The figure was standing at 68,864 in the same period last year.

The number of Chinese tourists arriving in China was 62,955 last year till November, while this year presents a better scenario at 71,430.

When it comes to US, the number of Americans visiting Nepal was about 39,108 in the year 2015 and it increased to about 48,481 this year.

Apart from that, Nepal has also started witnessing a substantial increase in the number of tourists from Sri Lanka. In the initial 11 months of 2015, 43,116 Sri Lankans had visited Nepal. The figures rose to 56,109 in the same period last year. Similarly, the number of Brit tourists increased to 42,481 from the existing 27,180 tourists in the same period last year.